Welcome to HVAC-Talk.com, a non-DIY site and the ultimate Source for HVAC Information & Knowledge Sharing for the industry professional! Here you can join over 150,000 HVAC Professionals & enthusiasts from around the world discussing all things related to HVAC/R. You are currently viewing as a NON-REGISTERED guest which gives you limited access to view discussions

To gain full access to our forums you must register; for a free account. As a registered Guest you will be able to:

Participate in over 40 different forums and search/browse from nearly 3 million posts.

I am from NY and I am familar with co2 as a refrigerant. In fact it is used in a large grocery train. I have also been trained on it's application by large case manufacturer. If you want green refrigeration look into ammonia. The king of all gases.

I am from NY and I am familar with co2 as a refrigerant. In fact it is used in a large grocery train. I have also been trained on it's application by large case manufacturer. If you want green refrigeration look into ammonia. The king of all gases.

CO2 seems to be all the rage right now.

When all is said and done, I don't think that it is going to last.

I agree that Ammonia is probably going to make some sort of resurgence.

I am from NY and I am familar with co2 as a refrigerant. In fact it is used in a large grocery train. I have also been trained on it's application by large case manufacturer. If you want green refrigeration look into ammonia. The king of all gases.

I'm very interested in refrigeration with ammonia. Two years ago, I read an article on Ashrae's Journal, its title is "Ammonia Future". There are some examples of using ammonia as an refrigerant in commercial and residential building as a new trend. However, in my country, it's still only "future", I have never seen any building chose ammonia for cooling.

Btw, I attached here the article "Ammonia Future" for the reference of thread's owner:

It's my opinion that we aren't going to see many huge advancements in green HVAC any time soon. There are simply too many companies that stand to lose too much money and too many government agencies with their hands in the free market.

Take DuPont for example. How much money do you think they make every year on refrigerants alone? It seems like every time their patent runs our on one, it is "uncovered" that this refrigerant is terrrrrrible for the environment... but luckily, they just happen to have the answer setting on their shelves. (ie R22) Now they are saying we have to quit using Puron because it is just as bad as Freon. This isn't likely to stop any time soon. The only reason geothermal is taking off is because it still uses refrigerants.

Secondly, you have the EPA up to its eyeballs in this technology. The fact of the matter is that the refrigerants we use aren't going to kill someone if they leak out of the system. Maybe they will if they burn some of them on accident, but it's not a big danger. Ammonia and propane on the other hand are hazardous for obvious reasons. The EPA isn't going to let every home in America contain gallons of ammonia that will leak out at some point.

This is only my two cents, but if you want to see the future of green HVAC, I don't think you need to look any further than optimization of the current systems and the R&D departments of DuPont and the like. If someone were to come up with a revolutionary idea in their garage, it would be bought up so fast that we would never hear a word about it.

It's my opinion that we aren't going to see many huge advancements in green HVAC any time soon. There are simply too many companies that stand to lose too much money and too many government agencies with their hands in the free market.

Take DuPont for example. How much money do you think they make every year on refrigerants alone? It seems like every time their patent runs our on one, it is "uncovered" that this refrigerant is terrrrrrible for the environment... but luckily, they just happen to have the answer setting on their shelves. (ie R22) Now they are saying we have to quit using Puron because it is just as bad as Freon. This isn't likely to stop any time soon. The only reason geothermal is taking off is because it still uses refrigerants.

Secondly, you have the EPA up to its eyeballs in this technology. The fact of the matter is that the refrigerants we use aren't going to kill someone if they leak out of the system. Maybe they will if they burn some of them on accident, but it's not a big danger. Ammonia and propane on the other hand are hazardous for obvious reasons. The EPA isn't going to let every home in America contain gallons of ammonia that will leak out at some point.

This is only my two cents, but if you want to see the future of green HVAC, I don't think you need to look any further than optimization of the current systems and the R&D departments of DuPont and the like. If someone were to come up with a revolutionary idea in their garage, it would be bought up so fast that we would never hear a word about it.

Hey, I firmly believe the patent thing is applied to more than just refrigerants.